Carrigtwohill looking to benefit from 'Tweek' as John Griffin comes on board for 2024

John Griffin is looking forward to the challenge as he gears up for the 2024 season with the senior A hurlers of Carrigtwohill.

The Kerry native succeeds Frank Flannery, who led the East Cork club to the semi-finals this year, and, having built up a strong coaching portfolio in recent times, he is keen embrace this latest experience.

A primary teacher in Watergrasshill, Griffin – known to all as ‘Tweek’ – was previously a hurling development officer for South Kerry and he was still playing for his home club Lixnaw this year, losing the county final to Crotta O’Neills.

The Cork roots were laid two decades ago as attended what was then known as Cork IT (now MTU Cork), playing Fitzgibbon Cup hurling and captaining the side in his final year.

As well as a stint playing with Blarney before transferring back to Lixnaw, he has gained a good grounding as a coach with Cork sides. This past year, he was with Ballygarvan, while he was part of the Cork set-up under Kieran Kingston and has also spent time with MTU, Erin’s Own and Imokilly.

“Every club or different environment you go to, you pick up something different,” Griffin says.

“Even just dealing with different players, different people – you learn something wherever you go and you learn more about yourself as a coach every year as well.”

With Flannery stepping down after a year back with his native club, Carrig have turned to Griffin as they look to continue their progress. He knows that there is a sizeable act to follow, but he sees it as a great opportunity.

“I know Frankie and I know what he brings to any set-up,” he says.

“He surrounds himself with good people and he puts a good backroom team in place. He makes sure that good habits are developed, that’s something he does with any team he’s involved in.

“He’ll always try to do the right things and I know that he put a lot of things in place in 2023 that hopefully they can carry forward for next year.

“I’m delighted to get involved with them. They’re a young squad and there’s lots of potential within the group. They’ve done well in the East Cork U21 too in recent weeks.

“It’s a good chance to develop the group and see where it takes us. From the dealings I’ve had with them so far, you can see that it’s a progressive club and they’re trying to do the right thing, which is important.

“There are some great people involved in the club and that goes a long way.”

The make-up of the championships now, with 12-team grades, means that most teams have a viable chance of success. The flipside of that is that there any no easy games and promotion will be hard-won.

Griffin is encouraged by the fact that Carrigtwohill are in the top tier of the RedFM Hurling League, exposing them to good quality opposition.

“Looking at it from Carrigtwohill’s point of view, they’re in Division 1 of the hurling league next year,” he says.

“It’s fantastic in terms of the games they’ll be getting, there’s great learning in that, playing against some of the best premier senior clubs.

“The senior A grade is very competitive, there’s no point saying otherwise. Obviously, it was a great achievement by Newcestown this year, winning the hurling and the football, and then you’ve Blarney, Bride Rovers, Fermoy and all of the other clubs. Glen Rovers are down there now too for 2024 and they’ll be looking to get back and so will Na Piarsaigh.

“You have to be on it on any given day and any team will fancy themselves to beat any other team. It is really competitive but that’s the beauty of it and that’s part of the challenge so we should be really looking forward to it as a group.”